Doctor provided with medically supplied pickup for emergency calls

DALKENA – Physician 1, an equipped pickup truck that will allow an emergency room physician to go to medical calls when needed, is one of the first of its kind in the country. It was launched last week, with Pend Oreille County fire officials gathering for the sendoff.

Dr. Nathan Lilya will take the 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 truck home. It is fully equipped with lights, sirens and medical equipment for quick response when needed.

Lilya works full time as an emergency room physician at Newport hospital. He says the idea of him having a truck to respond to calls was first conceived by Fire Chief Chris Haynes of Fire District 2 shortly after Lilya took over as medical program director for Pend Oreille County last January.

“I had been working at Newport ER for six years, and we had just bought property in county but were waiting for my kids to finish school in Spokane before moving up,” Lilya says.

The truck was purchased by Fire District 2 for more than $25,000, Haynes says. While it was purchased by Fire District 2, it isn’t confined to Fire District 2 areas. Lilya says the plan is for him to be able to go to major trauma events, as well as any mass casualty or rescue operations when backup or medical control is needed.

“The truck is fully outfitted to be first on the scene with monitors, defibrillator, meds, IV fluids, and a small oxygen tank,” he says. “I also plan on using the truck to go to the stations to do training simulations and select some calls each month to go out on to better support our medics and EMTs in the field. I want all of them to be familiar with me and unafraid to bring things up.”

Fire Chief Bob Webber of Fire District 4 says having a physician available for calls that aren’t close to the hospital is a win-win situation for the county.

“He is able to provide a higher level of care than we as EMTs and even paramedics can,” Webber says.

Lilya says he will have the call radio on during the day and his phone on at night for calls. He won’t be available when he’s at work in the ER, but EMTs and others can always contact him for advice if needed.

“I do work full time at the hospital, and plan on staying around for a good long time in both of these rolls,” he says. “I am very excited about the future of EMS in this county and can’t wait to continue to develop this program going forward.”